ORPHANS OF THE HIVE EPIDEMIC - UNMET NEEDS IN 6 US CITIES

In the United States, an estimated 72,000-125,000 children and adolesc ents will lose their mothers to AIDS by the year 2000. Six cities have been particularly hard hit: New York City, Newark, Miami, San Juan, L os Angeles, and Washington, DC. The most urgent unmet needs for childr en, their families and new guardians are for mental health services, i ncluding bereavement counselling; transitional services to help overco me the loss of AIDS-related benefits following the parent's death; leg al services; housing supports, and appropriate evaluations and referra ls by juvenile justice and school staff to community-based services. P rofessional staff need additional training and support. Public policie s and legal standards should stress a preference for maintaining child ren in their extended families, broadly defined, whenever possible. Mu ch more needs to be done to improve the lives and futures of these you th.